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Dramatic food price spikes in recent years have
stimulated debate on the welfare implications of food price risk. According
to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the number
of undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa rose to a record 265 million
in 2009. There is a gradually developing policy consensus in favor of income
redistribution to the poor in developing countries hit by the food price
crisis. This recommendation makes sense when the poor are net food
consumers, but it ignores the possibility that some poor people are net
producers of food and so are likely to benefit from rising food prices.